Silence

When tenderness
seems tired at last of its offices

and sleep, that most uncertain vessel,
still delays,

when blue bursts from
your eyes

and searches
mine for steady seamanship,

then it is I speak to you of words
desolate, derelict,

transfixed by silence.

Translation by Alexis Levitin from an original poem
in portuguese of Eugénio de Andrade